1 Overview

Documentation of the organization of the American Statistical Association’s 2018 Conference on Statistical Practice.

2 Goals

  1. Learn new statistical methodologies and best practices in statistical analysis, design, consulting, and statistical programming.
  2. Further career development and strengthen relationships in the statistical community.

3 Themes

3.1 CCCD - Communication, Collaboration and Career Development

The objective for this theme is to help conference participants develop skills and perspectives that will improve their personal and professional effectiveness as statisticians and increase their organizational impact as managers, leaders, strategists, consultants or collaborators. Presentations will enable participants to return to their jobs with new ideas, techniques, and strategies for improving their ability to assume leadership roles, communicate effectively, forge productive professional relationships, and develop and advance their careers. Potential topics include the following:

  • Organizational impact and influence
  • Leadership and management
  • Mentoring
  • Effective communication
  • Presenting statistical results to nonstatisticians
  • Best practices in consulting and collaboration
  • Career development and advancement
  • Statistical ethics

3.2 DMA - Data Modeling and Analysis

The objective for this theme is to provide attendees with practical knowledge about modeling and analyzing data of various forms through the application of state-of-the-art statistical methods. Presentation methods should use illustrative data analysis examples reproducible across several statistical packages and may focus on a variety of data types from varied applied settings. Presentations will feature information relevant to a broad range of applied statisticians working in diverse settings. Potential topics include the following:

  • Modeling
  • Inference
  • Prediction  

3.3 BDDS - Big Data and Data Science

Big Data and Data Science are at the forefront of statistical practice and require a complex set of computing, statistical and communication skills. This conference theme aims to help practitioners working in these fields stay current with state-of-the-art methods for solving inference, prediction, decision making, classification, and pattern recognition problems from extremely large, unconventional, or complex data. Presentations pertaining to this theme will involve large data applications, overviews/surveys of methodological tools and algorithms for solving such applications and best practices for gathering, structuring, exploring, visualizing and analyzing large amounts of data. Potential topics include the following:

  • Capturing, exploring, and visualizing large amounts of raw data
  • Processing and cleaning raw data to produce analyzable data structures
  • Scaling up statistical models for Big Data and Data Science applications
  • Analysis techniques for high-throughput screening
  • Text analytics and sentiment analysis
  • Model validation and comparison approaches

3.4 SPDV - Software, Programming, and Data Visualization

The objective for this theme is to help attendees integrate new or existing software, statistically oriented programming languages (R, SAS, etc.), or general programming languages (Python, Java, etc.) into their current processes. Presentations will focus on the practical application of such technology for the statistician or data analyst. Potential topics include the following:

  • Software and programming methods to obtain, clean, describe, or analyze data
  • Methods for interactively sharing analysis results with other analysts or end users
  • Visualization methods for communication and data discovery
  • Statistical applications of general programming languages

4 Steering Committee

4.1 Charge

The Conference on Statistical Practice Steering Committee (CSPSC) is responsible for the program and organization of the annual Conference on Statistical Practice (CSP). The purpose of the conference is to bring together statistical practitioners (including data analysts, researchers and scientists) who engage in the application of statistics to solve real-world problems to provide them opportunities to learn about the latest statistical methodologies and best practices in statistical design, analysis, programming and consulting, and aid them in improving their abilities in consulting with and helping customers and organizations. In conjunction with ASA staff, the CSPSC will make policy decisions for the conference, set and evaluate conference goals in accordance with needs of the target audiences, select sites and dates, recommend registration and other fees, pursue sponsorships, and actively promote the conference.

source: http://ww2.amstat.org/committees/commdetails.cfm?txtComm=CCNORG08

4.2 Composition

The CSPSC will consist of up to fifteen members. Six of these are appointed by the President-Elects. Each President-Elect will appoint/reappoint three of these six members for two year terms. One of these three appointments is a vice-chair, who serves a one year term and then becomes chair for one year. The CSPSC Chair, in consultation with the remaining committee members, has the authority to appoint additional members (up to the maximum of 15 members) for 1-2 year terms in order to provide the diversity of statistical practice needed to round out the planning of the conference.

4.3 Members

## Warning: package 'leaflet' was built under R version 3.3.2

MoonJung Cho (Chair of Steering Committee) - cho.moon@bls.gov
Isabella Ghement (Chair of Courses Subcom.) - ghement@yahoo.ca
Eric Stephens (Chair of Theme 1 CCCD Subcom.) - eric.stephens@lipscomb.edu
David Corliss (Chair of Theme 2 DMA Subcom.) - davidjcorliss@gmail.com
Colin McCulloch (Chair of Theme 3 BDDS Subcom.) - cmcculloch@google.com
Jean Adams (Chair of Theme 4 SPG Subcom., Vice Chair of Steering Committee) - jvadams@usgs.gov
Sylvia Dohrmann (Chair of Posters Subcom.) - dohrmas1@westat.com
John Castelloe - john.castelloe@sas.com
Jennifer Gauvin - jennifer.gauvin@novartis.com
Edward Jones - edward.jones@tamstatservices.com
Grace Hyun Kim - gracekim@mednet.ucla.edu
Kim Love-Myers - kim@krloveqcc.com
Laura Schweitzer - laura.schweitzer@pwc.com
Eric Vance - eric.vance@colorado.edu
Wenjin Wang - Wenjin.Wang@pfizer.com

4.3.1 ASA

Amanda Conageski (Meetings Planner) - amandac@amstat.org
Donna LaLonde (Director of Strategic Initiatives and Outreach) - donnal@amstat.org

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5 CSP2018 Time Line

The calendar below shows how the tasks and events in organizing CSP2018 fit together according to date and event category. Each task is shown as a gray line with colored circle at the end date. The color corresponds to the group responsible for each task.

  • Hover your mouse over any line or end point to get more information on the task.
  • Click/select to zoom in on on a smaller range of dates or event categories.

5.0.1 Visualization of Events and Tasks

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5.0.2 Table of Events and Tasks

The interactive table below shows the data behind the calendar above.

  • Search for any text in the table.
  • Sort by column.
  • Filter rows choosing a data range, a task category, or person responsible.

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6 CSP2018 Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

6.0.1 2017-02-25 (at CSP)

[Minutes by Jean]

Attendees: Jean Adams, John Castelloe, MoonJung Cho, David Corliss, Sylvia Dohrmann, Isabella Ghement, Donna LaLonde, Kim Love-Myers, Jim Rutherford, Eric Vance, Wenjin Wang

The CSP2017 abstract submission procedure will be very similar to the procedures of previous years. Please see the following for details:

  1. ASA Pilot Idea
    a. All four themes (1, 2, 3, and 4) and SCT are open to individuals who would like to present or teach at the CSP2017.
    b. In addition, we (the Steering Committee) will provide the ASA with an invitation list for SCT and Theme 3 (Big Data Prediction and Analytics).
    c. The ASA president will send out the invitation to the people on the list (b).
    d. Their submissions are to considered accepted once they accept the invitation. We may still work with invitees to make their presentations more appealing to conference attendees.
    e. All committee members are asked to send their recommendations of Theme #3 speakers to Colin (Theme 3 Chair).
  2. Subcommittee formation and time line * Theme chairs (with help from their members) are asked to recommend instructors for their themes to Isabella (SCT Chair).
  3. Two initiatives for CSP 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida
    * A Face-to-Face Task Group has been formed: Jean (leader), Eric Vance, Kim, Isabella, Wenjin, MoonJung, and any members who would like to help.
    * David is organizing a 90-minute session of panel discussions on Pro Bono statistical work.
  4. The CSP growth rate, our happy problem
  5. Teleconference during 3/21-25

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6.0.2 2017-02-25 (at CSP)

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